General Hospital’s William deVry Returns to Our Screens With a *Very* Familiar Leading Lady (2024)

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1/18

<p>When <em>One Life to Live</em> brought Blair Daimler to Llanview in 1991, she set about trying to marry wealthy geezer Asa Buchanan in order to fund her revenge scheme against Dorian Lord, the aunt she incorrectly blamed for her mother’s mental illness. Back then, the character was part Japanese and played by Mia Korf. Two years later, Blair’s ethnic background was dropped along with her portrayer: <em>Guiding Light</em> veteran Kassie Wesley was recast in the role.</p>

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2/18

<p>Blair might have returned to Llanview a whole new woman, but she still wanted the same old man: incorrigible Max Holden, with whom she’d had sex <em>on</em> her wedding dress <em>on</em> the day she’d said “I do” to Asa. Unfortunately, in the short time that she’d been out of town, Max had fallen hard for kooky Luna Moody. So Blair hit her with her car (oops), in so doing, accidentally making roadkill of her affair with Max.</p>

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3/18

<p>A heartbroken Blair let herself be consoled by Mr. Nice Guy Cord Roberts, who possessed two of the three qualities that she demanded of a lover: He was handsome and rich. What he <em>wasn’t</em>, however, was interesting. No matter. In no time, a more intriguing prospect presented itself in the form of Todd Manning. Upon learning that he was a surprise heir to the Lord fortune, Blair rushed him down the aisle with a fake pregnancy.</p>

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4/18

<p>In the years that followed, Blair was swept away by the never-ending battle that was her relationship with Todd (and yes, that’s Roger Howarth, who now scrubs in as Austin on <em>General Hospital</em>). They broke up, they threw down, they got back together, and along the way roped lawyer Téa Delgado into the vortex of their dysfunctional dynamic.</p>

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5/18

<p>In the late 1990s, Max managed to rekindle his romance with Blair, whose portrayer was by then married to leading man James DePaiva in real life. But the lovers’ reunion tour was a short one: Blair kicked Max to the curb when she found out that Asa was paying him big bucks to dig up dirt on the ex-wife he still loathed.</p>

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6/18

<p>Hoping to win back Blair, Todd sent her anonymous death threats. Believe it or not, this worked. As she hid out at his penthouse with their kids, Starr and Jack, Todd wormed his way into his former wife’s heart once more. When the truth came out — and let’s be real, it <em>always</em> does! — Blair refused to say, “I redo.”</p>

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7/18

<p>Maybe because by 2007, Todd seemed like a new man — Trevor St. John (now <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Tucker) had stepped into the part — Blair tied the knot with him for the umpteenth time. Still, she could never quite count out Téa as a threat. In fact, <em>she</em> was about to take another ride on the marry-go-round with Todd when…</p>

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8/18

<p>Blair discovered that her rival was already hitched to Ross Rayburn. Not only that, but Téa had had a child with Todd that nobody knew about: Dani. And Ross thought that the teenager was his. <em>And</em> he was psychotic. <em>And</em> there was a kidnapping and a lotta life-or-death struggling. Put it this way: It was a whole thing.</p>

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9/18

<p>… make lemonade. Preferably sexy, sexy lemonade. With a slot momentarily available on her dance card, Blair became the kind of friends with Ross’ brother Elijah that include benefits. This wasn’t unusual at all for the mantrap; by the time <em>One Life to Live</em> was pronounced dead, she had gotten to know most of the men in Llanview intimately.</p>

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10/18

<p>Did we mention that, at one point, Blair sought to gain custody of her and Todd’s children by marrying John McBain (and yes, that is Michael Easton, who now makes the rounds as <em>General Hospital</em> doc Finn). Because she did. Patiently waiting his turn is Cristian Vega, another of the hunks that Blair tucked in.</p>

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11/18

<p>Maybe it was bound to happen, what with Jack being raised by no-goodniks like Blair and Todd. In 2011, they realized that their son might be the scariest kid this side of <em>The Omen</em>. Even though Jack bullied Shane Morasco to the point of attempting suicide, he didn’t feel any remorse — not even after killing Shane’s mother, Gigi!</p>

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12/18

<p>There was a time that Téa would have said that she’d bury the hatchet with Blair over her dead body. Well, that time came. Téa died, leaving behind not a mortal enemy but a true-blue gal pal. Needless to say, Téa was only dead in air quotes. As soon as she’d changed the title of her memoir to <em>Two Lives to Live</em>, she had cause to say…</p>

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13/18

<p>Blair had begun canoodling with Téa’s sibling, Tomás. And he had a lot going for him, what with being handsome, attractive, sexy and also good-looking. But Téa, knowing that he was trouble, tried to steer Blair clear. It didn’t work, not after he wrote down all of the things that he wanted to do to Blair in private. (Wow.)</p>

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14/18

<p>As <em>One Life to Live</em> ended its run on ABC, Todd was revealed not to be Todd but his twin brother, Victor Lord Jr. OG Todd and Blair, never having met a pattern that they didn’t want to repeat, fell into bed together…just in time for McBain to arrest the real McCoy for Victor’s murder. Sorry, make that “murder.”</p>

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15/18

<p><em>General Hospital</em> brought together the Mannings against for the saddest of occasions: Blair raced to Port Charles to be with Starr after a car accident claimed the life of not only babydaddy Cole Thornhart but their daughter, Hope. Then, in 2012, what may just be the weirdest thing of all happened…</p>

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16/18

<p>As Blair’s <em>General Hospital</em> return drew ever nearer, fans began to speculate that she was the vicious third ex-wife of whom Martin Grey was so afraid. In 2010, executive producer Frank Valentini directed DePaiva and then-<em>All My Children</em> star Michael E. Knight in a high-flying “What If… ” promo that introduced Blair to his “Tad the Cad” Martin.</p>

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17/18

<p>Carly Spencer and Skye Quartermaine saw a picture announcing Blair’s engagement to Tomás and had the same reaction: “WTH!” The CIA operative looked exactly like their ex, Lorenzo Alcazar. (With good reason, too, since Ted King played both parts.) Was Tomás really Lorenzo? Perhaps we’ll find out upon Blair’s return to Port Charles.</p>

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18/18

<p>Whatever<em> General Hospital</em> has in store for Blair, we’re all but guaranteed a good time. Those who get in her way? Eh, not so much. But if all goes well, maybe Aunt Dorian will follow with cousin Kelly to establish a Cramer-women stronghold in New York. Surely, there’s an empty mansion that could be turned into a new La Boulaie.</p>